CHINESE INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS GROWTH SLOWS

Members of the Bai (L) and
Dai ethnic minorities indigenous to China's southwestern province
Yunnan drink Coca-Cola at the Stone Forest in Kunming March 18.
The soft drink giant Coca-Cola formally opens its Kunming
bottling plant on March 20 and is one of the first Fortune 500
companies to make a major investment in Yunnan province, one of
China's poorest and least industrialized.Reuters

The index, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),
is based on a survey by the China Federation of Logistics and
Purchasing of nearly 1,200 firms in 27 industries, including
construction, transport and telecommunications.